Woohoo!  We’re heading into the last six challenges of HSF ’13!  I can’t believe how successful it’s been, and how much I have sewn, and the amazing things other people have sewn. As we got past the halfway point I did find myself lagging, and struggling to keep going, and I don’t think I was the only one.  There was a definite decline in entries for each challenge over the low at the end of summer/winter.  Things seem to be picking up again as we head into the last few challenges, so hopefully we will finish off the year with a surge of sewing amazingness. Despite the slight lull, there was still lots of individual amazingness in the creations that were submitted, and selecting only three items that inspired me for each challenge was still a struggle.  I shared my favourites for  Challenges 1-5 here, and for  Challenges 6-10 here, and for Challenges 11-15 here.  You can see  all  the creations for each challenge either through the comments for each individual challenge page,  or through …

Oh my goodness!  Only 6 more HSF challenges to go in 2013!  That means it’s time to start announcing the challenges for 2014, but first, some basics about how HSF ’14 will work. I’ll be getting a proper page with all the details, and a HSF button for your blog, up in the next few weeks, but here are the most important bits: There will be 24 Challenges in 2014, with a Challenge due on the 1st & 15th of each month. You can do as many or as few Challenges as you want, though I’d encourage people to aim to do either the full 24 (full marathon) or every other challenge (half marathon) just to give you a pattern and motivation. To be eligible as a Challenge entry, items should have been finished no more than 6 weeks before the Challenge due date. For HSF 2014 ‘Historical’ counts as anything from the earliest moments of textile history to the end of WWII – 1945. I’ll announce the first seven Challenges of HSF ’14 after …